Native Music Native American Music

Native Music Native American music made in European forms is missing many of the elements that made it unique. The vocalizations and instrument sounds represented the world around them. Complex rhythmic structures spoke to the rhythms of life. Costume and dance were vital part of musical performance. These aspects are missing from today's native American music. Further, the pan-tribalism found in much of today's native American music marks a sharp contrast to musical forms that were once unique to each individual tribe.

Without these key elements, native American music made today in European forms has lost much of its uniqueness. Before the arrival of Europeans to North America, the native population had developed many complex musical styles. Without written language, music became one of the major modes of cultural expression. The values and histories of entire societies were distilled into their song, their dance and their costume. Today, Native American music is almost always crafted with a heavy dose of European influence.

While Native American music today can be reasonably understood to be a reflection of a culture that has experienced significant European influence, at the same time the presence of that influence means that something authentic and unique has been irrevocably removed from the music. The natives of North America had developed complex music forms before European times. Songs were both sacred and secular.

They told all forms of stories, of hunts and harvests, of courtship and great heroes - the histories of the people were passed down to young generations in these songs. The Navajo had national anthems and flag songs. The Zuni sung songs of praise to the sunrise, a near-sacred event if their culture. Different tribal regions had their own distinct musical forms. These were as intricate and complex as any music in the world. In most regions, songs were built around complex rhythmic structures.

The highly intricate songs of natives along the Northwest coast featured rhythmic patterns that both complemented and contrasted melody lines and a rigid underlying percussion. The scale structure used is completely different from that of European music, a five-note scale, but with the notes "seemingly chosen at random." Vocalizations, too, were sophisticated combinations of verbal lyrics and vocables. The latter, non-word vocalizations, were common across a wide range of tribal groups.

They are one of the most distinct cultural elements of pre-European native music, as they cannot be effectively interpreted without a deep understanding of the culture. Vocal styles varied across tribes, but were often intense, rich with texture and dynamics. Instrumentation reflected the lives of the tribes. As with all things, the instruments were crafted from the environment. Drums and flutes were most common, due to the availability of skins and wood. Other instruments were forms of violin, rattles and other percussion, horns and whistles.

One of the most important elements in native American music is its role in the transmission of history and culture. Few tribes had written systems, so song was the main mode of educating the younger generations about the past. The influence of Europeans has given native Americans written language skills, putting many of the oral traditions at risk. Another element is that of dreams and visions. Ceremonial music was often said to have been given to man by the spirits.

The relationship between man and the spirit world was a vital component of most native cultures. The influence of this concept on the music was profound. Gifted musicians were often thought to have received additional power from the spirits. More importantly, music was the primary means for man to communicate with the spirit world. Pre-European native music cannot be considered without simultaneously considering dance and costume. As part of a larger storytelling tradition, song was frequently intertwined with these other elements of culture.

Song was not simply about music, it was about the totality of the performance. Nor was the performance simply a concert to be viewed, it was a performance in which much of the village would participate. Bob Maine relates a story of visiting a Big House in the Pacific Northwest where every resident was engaged in a drumming performance. Many events were all-encompassing such that it was impossible to be merely a spectator - you had to be a participant as well.

With the arrival of Europeans, native American music began to change. One of the most significant changes was the concept of pan-tribalism. Native groups, once entities entirely distinct from one another, began to view themselves as a larger cultural group, distinct from one another but even more distinct from the Europeans who were spreading across their land. In music, this was initially reflected in the adoption of music traditions from other tribes.

In time styles developed, such as peyote songs or powwow music, that represented a blend of native cultural tradition, as if to stand in unity against European incursion. Pan-tribalism progressed throughout the 20th century. The exodus of native Americans to cities accelerated the process. Removed from their birth tribe, they nonetheless found common identity with other natives, regardless of tribe. This eventually led to the adoption of European musical forms, by which musicians typically express their ideals and experiences, often in a pan-tribal context.

The music of today retains certain elements of traditional native music. The lyrical content still encapsulates native life, be it in folk songs about man's relationship with nature or in politically-charged hip hop. That the music is heavily influenced by European or African-American forms reflects that native American life today is heavily influenced by those cultures. That some elements are traditional native American music have disappeared mirrors cultural reality. In that, the losses suffered by native American culture are evident.

In terms of the losses suffered in the musical realm, they are many. The popular musical forms used by most native American musicians today were developed in response to the needs and desires of other cultural groups. These forms of music can be traced through funk and blues to African tribal music and European folk traditions. At no point are these forms of music distilled through, or influenced by traditional native American musical forms.

As a result, many of the defining elements of traditional native American music are missing from modern native American music that is influenced by European forms. Traditional rhythmic structures that were essentially interpretations of the rhythms of nature have been replaced by basic rhythms that have no particular meaning at all. The influence of vocables has been greatly diminished. These played a vital role in almost all forms of traditional native American music. For one, they represented aspects of the natural world, such as animal calls and weather phenomenon.

Without the vocables, these must be transmitted via words, which diminishes the impact somewhat. Another consideration is that the vocables served as a cultural barrier. In order to fully interpret these sounds, one had to be a member of the culture. In an era of pan-tribalism, and with a need to present a voice understandable to non-native audiences as well, the role of vocables has been greatly reduced. Yet the inaccessibility of the songs was one of their strengths - it forged strong cultural ties among individual tribes.

Other aspects of vocal style are also missing. The tense, wildly textured vocal styles formed a crucial part of traditional native music. With the exception of the Inuit throat singing that is also found in parts of northeastern Asia, traditional native American vocal styles were entirely unique. As with the instruments, they represented a connection with the land - the textures of the vocals represented the textures of life itself. Modern European-influenced vocal forms seldom capture this dynamic.

Indeed, as the connection with the land is lost, it becomes difficult for native musicians to capture the spirit of the land at all. Another element almost entirely missing from the European-influenced native music of today is the dance and costume aspect. The.